Tuesday Tomorrow
A Cold Highland Wind by Tasha Alexander
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: October 3rd, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"In this new installment of Tasha Alexander's acclaimed Lady Emily series set in the wild Scottish highlands, an ancient story of witchcraft may hold the key to solving a murder centuries later.
Lady Emily, husband Colin Hargreaves, and their three sons eagerly embark on a family vacation at Cairnfarn Castle, the Scottish estate of their dear friend Jeremy, Duke of Bainbridge. But a high-spirited celebration at the beginning of their stay comes to a grisly end when the duke's gamekeeper is found murdered on the banks of the loch. Handsome Angus Sinclair had a host of enemies: the fiancée he abandoned in Edinburgh, the young woman who had fallen hopelessly in love with him, and the rough farmer who saw him as a rival for her affections. But what is the meaning of the curious runic stone left on Sinclair's forehead?
Clues may be found in the story of Lady MacAllister, wife of the Laird of Cairnfarn Castle, who in 1676 suddenly found herself widowed and thrown out of her home. Her sole companion was a Moorish slave girl who helped her secretly spirit her most prized possessions - a collection of strange books - out of the castle. When her neighbors, wary of a woman living on her own, found a poppet - a doll used to cast spells - and a daisy wheel in her isolated cottage, Lady MacAllister was accused of witchcraft, a crime punishable by death.
Hundreds of years later, Lady Emily searches for the link between Lady MacAllister's harrowing witchcraft trial and the brutal death of Sinclair. She must follow a trail of hidden motives, an illicit affair, and a mysterious stranger to reveal the dark side of a seemingly idyllic Highland village."
Every book by Tasha is like solving a mystery with old friends. This volume is no different, though I did pick up some new old friends along the way.
The Mystery of the Missing Heiress by Patricia Rice
Published by: Book View Cafe Publishing Cooperative
Publication Date: October 3rd, 2023
Format: Paperback, 314 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"Bestselling author Patricia Rice offers the next book in her Regency historical mystery series...
Wycliffe Manor, a magnet for murder...
On a long-delayed errand to remote Wycliffe Manor, ex-Lieutenant Jack de Sackville stumbles across the murdered body of London dandy, Basil Culpepper, in the hedgerow, a long way from his usual haunts. To Jack's dismay, he discovers the earl's daughter Culpepper ruined hiding in Wycliffe's kitchen.
Disguised as a lowly cook, Lady Elspeth Villiers may have liked to shoot Culpepper for ruining her life, but she dropped out of sight for more immediate reasons than an old scandal - her wealth has become the focus of greedy men. The arrival of Jack, the man she's adored since childhood, along with Culpepper's corpse, mean her hiding place is no longer safe.
But once Lady Elsa reveals herself to the unconventional inhabitants of Wycliffe Manor, they become the protective family she has never known. Outraged to learn the beautiful woman he once loved and lost has become a target of greed, Jack joins the investigation into Culpepper's death.
With a murderer on the loose, the amateur sleuths must unravel a deadly tangle of kidnappers and counterfeiters or the Manor's eccentric inhabitants will be in as much danger as their cook."
Yeah for found family protecting you from a murder rap!
Mary and the Birth of Frankenstein by Anne Eekhout
Published by: Harpervia
Publication Date: October 3rd, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"A sapphic reimagining of Mary Shelley's youth, vividly exploring innocence, young love, Gothic mystery and the roots of her literary masterpiece, Frankenstein.
Switzerland, 1816. A volcanic eruption in Indonesia envelopes the whole of Europe in ash and cloud. Amid this "year without a summer," eighteen-year-old Mary Shelley and her lover Percy Bysshe Shelley arrive at Lake Geneva to visit Lord Byron and his companion John Polidori. Anguished by the recent loss of her child, Mary spends her days in strife. But come nightfall, the friends while away rainy wine-soaked evenings gathered around the fireplace, exchanging stories. One famous evening, Byron issues a challenge to write the best ghost story. Contemplating what to write, Mary recalls another summer, when she was fourteen...
Scotland, 1812. A guest of the Baxter family, Mary arrives in Dundee, befriending young Isabella Baxter. The girls soon spend hours together wandering through fields and forests, concocting tales about mythical Scottish creatures, ghosts and monsters roaming the lowlands. As their bond deepens, Mary and Isabella's feelings for each other intensify. But someone has been watching them - the charismatic and vaguely sinister Mr. Booth, Isabella's older brother-in-law, who may not be as benevolent as he purports to be...
With gripping mastery and verve, Anne Eekhout brings to life a defining moment in Mary Shelley's youth: the creative wellspring for one of the most original, thrilling, and timeless pieces of literature ever written. Provocative, wonderfully atmospheric and pulsing with emotion, Mary and the Birth of Frankenstein is a hypnotic ode to the power of imagination.
Translated from the Dutch by Laura Watkinson"
I am all about the birth of Mary Shelley's writing prowess.
The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch by Melinda Taub
Published by: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: October 3rd, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"A sparkling, witchy reimagining of Pride and Prejudice, told from the perspective of the troublesome and - according to her - much-maligned youngest Bennet sister, Lydia.
In this exuberant retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Lydia Bennet puts pen to paper to relate the real events and aftermath of the classic story. Some facts are well known: Mrs. Bennet suffers from her nerves, Mr. Bennet suffers from Mrs. Bennet, and all five daughters suffer from an estate that is entailed only to male heirs.
But Lydia also suffers from entirely different concerns: her best-loved sister Kitty is really a barn cat; Wickham is every bit as wicked as the world believes him to be, but what else would one expect from a demon? And if Mr. Darcy is uptight about etiquette, that's nothing compared to his feelings about magic. Most of all, Lydia has yet to learn that for a witch, promises have power...
Full of enchantment, intrigue, and boundless magic, The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch, has all the irreverent wit, strength, and romance of Pride and Prejudice - while offering a highly unexpected redemption for the wildest Bennet sister."
Oh my, I'm swooning, it's REGENCY MAGIC TIME! Also, Kitty is a barn cat. I can't stop laughing.
Night of the Witch by Sara Raasch and Beth Revis
Published by: Sourcebooks Fire
Publication Date: October 3rd, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 416 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"New York Times bestselling authors Sara Raasch and Beth Revis weave a tale of romance, vengeance, and magic in this start to the Witch and Hunter duology, an epic enemies to lovers fantasy romance.
Fritzi is a witch. The lone survivor of a brutal attack on her coven, she's determined to find her only remaining family member and bring the hexenjägers - zealot witch hunters - to justice for the lives they ended. To do this, she will need to take down their leader, the merciless and enigmatic Kommandant Dieter Kirch.
Otto is a hexenjäger - but that's just his cover. Years ago, the hexenjägers burned his innocent mother alive, and he has been plotting his revenge against the people who tore apart his family ever since. And now the time has come for them to pay for what they've done.
When Fritzi and Otto are unexpectedly thrown together, neither is sure they can trust the other. The reluctant truce fueled by their common enemy takes them from the city at the heart of the hexenjägers' power to the wild and mysterious Black Forest. As old truths come to light and new dangers are revealed, Fritzi and Otto uncover a horrifying magical plot at the center of the hexenjäger attacks that leads back to Kommandant Kirch...but their own growing feelings for each other may be the most powerful magic of all."
It's October, time to read about some zealot witch hunters.
The Voice Upstairs by Laura E. Weymouth
Published by: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Publication Date: October 3rd, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"In 1920s England, a working-class girl who can see spirits works with a lord's son to solve mysterious deaths at the local manor home in this eerie historical mystery perfect for fans of The Haunting of Bly Manor and Downton Abbey.
Wilhelmina Price has a dubious reputation in the village of Thrush's Green. Ever since her mother's untimely death, she has been able to see a person's spirit leaving their body days or hours before they die. Wil has never been able to prevent these deaths, so her unusual skill has made her an outsider to most except her lifelong friend, Edison, the youngest son of Lord Summerfield. But when a maid at the Summerfield's estate dies in the same mysterious way as Wil's own mother, Wil takes on a housemaid's position to investigate whether these women might, in fact, have been murdered.
There is nothing Ed Summerfield values more than his friendship with Wil, which is why he's desperate to disguise how hopelessly in love with her he's become - and his belief that he may be haunted by the ghost of his older brother, Peter. Because if Wil, with her supernatural powers, can't see the same evidence of hauntings that Ed does, he worries he may actually be losing his mind.
Together, Wil and Ed must dig deeper into the Summerfields' hoard of secrets, though the truth won't give itself up without a fight that could prove deadly to the both of them, as they face cunning adversaries among the living and the dead."
Yes. Yes to ALL OF IT!
A Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand
Published by: Mulholland Books
Publication Date: October 3rd, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"From award-winning author Elizabeth Hand comes the first-ever novel authorized to return to the world of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House - a "scary and beautifully written" (Neil Gaiman) new story of isolation and longing perfect for our present time.
Open the door....
Holly Sherwin has been a struggling playwright for years, but now, after receiving a grant to develop her play Witching Night, she may finally be close to her big break. All she needs is time and space to bring her vision to life. When she stumbles across Hill House on a weekend getaway upstate, she is immediately taken in by the mansion, nearly hidden outside a remote village. It's enormous, old, and ever-so eerie - the perfect place to develop and rehearse her play.
Despite her own hesitations, Holly's girlfriend, Nisa, agrees to join Holly in renting the house for a month, and soon a troupe of actors, each with ghosts of their own, arrive. Yet as they settle in, the house's peculiarities are made known: strange creatures stalk the grounds, disturbing sounds echo throughout the halls, and time itself seems to shift. All too soon, Holly and her friends find themselves at odds not just with one another, but with the house itself. It seems something has been waiting in Hill House all these years, and it no longer intends to walk alone..."
This is THE BOOK for this Halloween season! I can not wait to read it!
The Night House by Jo Nesbo
Published by: Knopf Publishing Group
Publication Date: October 3rd, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 256 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"From the internationally best-selling author, a chilling fresh spin on the classic horror novel - When the voices call, don't answer.
In the wake of his parents' tragic deaths in a house fire, fourteen-year-old Richard Elauved has been sent to live with his aunt and uncle in the remote, insular town of Ballantyne. Richard quickly earns a reputation as an outcast, and when a classmate named Tom goes missing, everyone suspects the new, angry boy is responsible for his disappearance. No one believes him when he says the telephone booth out by the edge of the woods sucked Tom into the receiver like something out of a horror movie. No one, that is, except Karen, a beguiling fellow outsider who encourages Richard to pursue clues the police refuse to investigate. He traces the number that Tom prank-called from the phone booth to an abandoned house in the Mirror Forest. There he catches a glimpse of a terrifying face in the window. And then the voices begin to whisper in his ear...
She's going to burn. The girl you love is going to burn. There's nothing you can do about it.
When another classmate disappears, Richard must find a way to prove his innocence - and preserve his sanity - as he grapples with the dark magic that is possessing Ballantyne and pursuing his destruction.
Then again, Richard may not be the most reliable narrator of his own story..."
So THIS is why we got ride of all telephone booths!
Midnight Showing by Megan Shepherd
Published by: Hyperion Avenue
Publication Date: October 3rd, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"Discovering her father's strange final manuscript has brought only mayhem and darkness to Haven Marbury's life. In Book Two of the Malice Compendium, what has leapt of the page threatens everybody.
Now both hunter and prey, Haven travels far and wide to discover the contours of her family curse and escape the worst of her late father's creations. Constantly looking over her shoulder, she fears Uncle Arnold the most. His irresistible whispers compel victims to commit horrifying deeds, and he's hungry to use Haven's abilities to rewrite the world to his liking.
Drawn to the desert scrublands and Hollywood mansions of California, Haven discovers a string of murders that point directly to members of her family. Given shelter by a mysterious benefactor, Haven and her sister forge questionable allegiances, using some otherworldly creatures to hunt down others. And when the trail of death ends at a studio from the Golden Age of horror films, reality and fiction become the strangest of bedfellows indeed."
I just ADORE that space where horror collides with the Golden Age of Hollywood. Which is probably why I love Scream 3 so much...
The Quiet Room by Terry Miles
Published by: Del Rey Books
Publication Date: October 3rd, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 432Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"The lore and legends around the underground game known as Rabbits gain new dimensions in this twisty tale set in the world of the hit Rabbits podcast.
After nearly winning the eleventh iteration of Rabbits, the mysterious alternate reality game so vast it uses the entire world as its canvas, Emily Connors suddenly finds herself trapped in a dimensional stream where the game does not exist. At all. Except...why do sinister figures show up to stop her every time she goes looking? Does Rabbits truly not exist, or is it being hidden? And if it's being hidden, why - and by whom?
Meanwhile, architect and theme park designer Rowan Chess is having the weirdest month of his life, full of odd coincidences and people who appear one moment and vanish the next, with no trace they ever even existed. The game that is hiding from Emily seems to have found Rowan - with a vengeance.
But only when Rowan and Emily meet do things start to get dangerous, for together they uncover a conspiracy far deeper and deadlier than either of them expected - one that could forever change the nature not only of the game, but of reality itself."
I dare you do go down the Rabbit hole.
Out There Screaming edited by Jordan Peele
Published by: Random House
Publication Date: October 3rd, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"The visionary writer and director of Get Out, Us, and Nope, and founder of Monkeypaw Productions, curates this groundbreaking anthology of all-new stories of Black horror, exploring not only the terrors of the supernatural but the chilling reality of injustice that haunts our nation.
A cop begins seeing huge, blinking eyes where the headlights of cars should be that tell him who to pull over. Two freedom riders take a bus ride that leaves them stranded on a lonely road in Alabama where several unsettling somethings await them. A young girl dives into the depths of the Earth in search of the demon that killed her parents. These are just a few of the worlds of Out There Screaming, Jordan Peele's anthology of all-new horror stories by Black writers. Featuring an introduction by Peele and an all-star roster of beloved writers and new voices, Out There Screaming is a master class in horror, and - like his spine-chilling films - its stories prey on everything we think we know about our world...and redefine what it means to be afraid.
Featuring stories by: Erin E. Adams, Violet Allen, Lesley Nneka Arimah, Maurice Broaddus, Chesya Burke, P. Djèlà Clark, Ezra Claytan Daniels, Tananarive Due, Nalo Hopkinson, N. K. Jemisin, Justin C. Key, L. D. Lewis, Nnedi Okorafor, Tochi Onyebuchi, Rebecca Roanhorse, Nicole D. Sconiers, Rion Amilcar Scott, Terence Taylor, and Cadwell Turnbull."
Perhaps what Jordan Peele should have done all along instead of The Twilight Zone reboot...
Knock Knock, Open Wide by Neil Sharpson
Published by: Tor Nightfire
Publication Date: October 3rd, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"Knock Knock, Open Wide weaves horror and Celtic myth into a terrifying, heartbreaking supernatural tale of fractured family bonds, the secrets we carry, and the veiled forces that guide Irish life.
Driving home late one night, Etain Larkin finds a corpse on a pitch-black country road deep in the Irish countryside. She takes the corpse to a remote farmhouse. So begins a night of unspeakable horror that will take her to the very brink of sanity.
She will never speak of it again.
Two decades later, Betty Fitzpatrick, newly arrived at college in Dublin, has already fallen in love with the drama society, and the beautiful but troubled Ashling Mallen. As their relationship blossoms, Ashling goes to great lengths to keep Betty away from her family, especially her alcoholic mother, Etain.
As their relationship blossoms, Betty learns her lover's terrifying family history, and Ashling's secret obsession. Ashling has become convinced that the horrors inflicted on her family are connected to a seemingly innocent children's TV show. Everyone in Ireland watched this show in their youth, but Ash soon discovers that no one remembers it quite the same way. And only Ashling seems to remember its star: a small black goat puppet who lives in a box and only comes out if you don't behave. They say he's never come out.
Almost never.
When the door between the known and unknown opens, it can never close again."
Children's entertainment is inherently creepy, so I'm all for this book.
My Darling Girl by Jennifer McMahon
Published by: MGallery/Scout Press
Publication Date: October 3rd, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"The New York Times bestselling author of the "otherworldly treat" (People) The Drowning Kind and The Children on the Hill returns with a spine-tingling psychological thriller about a woman who, after taking in her dying, alcoholic mother, begins to suspect demonic possession is haunting her family.
Alison has never been a fan of Christmas. But with it right around the corner and her husband busily decorating their cozy Vermont home, she has no choice but to face it. Then she gets the call.
Mavis, Alison's estranged mother, has been diagnosed with cancer and has only weeks to live. She wants to spend her remaining days with her daughter, son-in-law, and two granddaughters. But Alison grew up with her mother's alcoholism and violent abuse and is reluctant to unearth these traumatic memories. Still, she eventually agrees to take in Mavis, hoping that she and her mother could finally heal and have the relationship she's always dreamed of.
But when mysterious and otherworldly things start happening upon Mavis's arrival, Alison begins to suspect her mother is not quite who she seems. And as the holiday festivities turn into a nightmare, she must confront just how far she is willing to go to protect her family."
Evil at Christmas? Oh yes, the more supernatural the better!
Curious Tides by Pascale Lacelle
Published by: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Publication Date: October 3rd, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 544 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"Ninth House meets A Deadly Education in this gorgeous dark academia fantasy following a teen mage who must unravel the truth behind the secret society that may have been involved in her classmates' deaths.
Emory might be a student at the prestigious Aldryn College for Lunar Magics, but her healing abilities have always been mediocre at best - until a treacherous night in the Dovermere sea caves leaves a group of her classmates dead and her as the only survivor. Now Emory is plagued by strange, impossible powers that no healer should possess.
Powers that would ruin her life if the wrong person were to discover them.
To gain control of these new abilities, Emory enlists the help of the school's most reclusive student, Baz - a boy already well-versed in the deadly nature of darker magic, whose sister happened to be one of the drowned students and Emory's best friend. Determined to find the truth behind the drownings and the cult-like secret society she's convinced her classmates were involved in, Emory is faced with even more questions when the supposedly drowned students start washing ashore - alive - only for them each immediately to die horrible, magical deaths.
And Emory is not the only one seeking answers. When her new magic captures the society's attention, she finds herself drawn into their world of privilege and power, all while wondering if the truth she's searching for might lead her right back to Dovermere...to face the fate she was never meant to escape."
Dark academia! YAS!
Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
Published by: Tor Books
Publication Date: October 3rd, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"A gorgeously modern Gothic fantasy from the New York Times bestselling author of Ten Thousand Doors of January.
I dream sometimes about a house I've never seen....
Opal is a lot of things - orphan, high school dropout, full-time cynic and part-time cashier - but above all, she's a determined to find a better life for her younger brother Jasper. One that gets them out of Eden, Kentucky, a town remarkable for only two things: bad luck and E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth century author of The Underland, who disappeared over a hundred years ago.
All she left behind were dark rumors - and her home. Everyone agrees that it's best to ignore the uncanny mansion and its misanthropic heir, Arthur. Almost everyone, anyway.
I should be scared, but in the dream I don't hesitate.
Opal has been obsessed with The Underland since she was a child. When she gets the chance to step inside Starling House - and make some extra cash for her brother's escape fund - she can't resist.
But sinister forces are digging deeper into the buried secrets of Starling House, and Arthur's own nightmares have become far too real. As Eden itself seems to be drowning in its own ghosts, Opal realizes that she might finally have found a reason to stick around.
In my dream, I'm home.
And now she'll have to fight.
Welcome to Starling House: enter, if you dare."
Oh oh, I dare!
Silence and Shadow by Erin Beaty
Published by: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication Date: October 3rd, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 464 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"The sequel to Erin Beaty's buzzworthy YA medieval fantasy-thriller Blood and Moonlight, Silence and Shadow is full of swoony romance, dangerous magick, and murder - perfect for fans of Kerri Maniscalco and Mary E. Pearson.
After confronting a killer and fleeing her home to be with each other, Cat and Simon - renown for his uncanny insights into the minds of criminals - arrive in the sprawling city of Londunium. They are pretending to be a newly married couple, but don't expect to keep up the ruse for long. Cat looks forward to honing her healing magick at the local Selanae university, but instead finds a council of ruthless leaders threatening to erase her non-Selanae "husband's" memories to protect their secrets.
Terrified to lose him, Cat takes desperate steps to keep him safe. But when a string of mutilated bodies turns up in the woods outside the city, and Simon is recruited to profile the killer, Cat is pulled back into a world of murder, mayhem, and magick - one that threatens to consume her, and everything she loves."
Londunium? Hell yes!
Menewood by Nicola Griffith
Published by: MCD
Publication Date: October 3rd, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 720 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"In the much anticipated sequel to Hild, Nicola Griffith's Menewood transports readers back to seventh-century Britain, a land of rival kings and religions poised for epochal change.
Making a much-anticipated return to the world of Hild, Nicola Griffith's Menewood transports readers back to seventh-century Britain, a land of rival kings and religions poised for epochal change. Hild is no longer the bright child who made a place in Edwin Overking's court with her seemingly supernatural insight. She is eighteen, honed and tested, the formidable lady of Elmet, now building her personal stronghold in the valley of Menewood.
But old alliances are fraying. Younger rivals are snapping at Edwin's heels. War is brewing - bitter war, winter war. Not knowing whom to trust, Edwin becomes volatile and recalls his young advisor to court. There Hild begins to understand the true extent of the chaos ahead - and realizes she must find a way to navigate the turbulence and fight to protect both the kingdom and her own people.
She will face the losses and devastation of total war, and then must summon the determination to forge a radically different path for herself and her people. In the valley, her last redoubt, Hild draws strength from the fierce joy she finds in the natural world, as, slowly, her community takes root. She trains herself and her unexpected allies in new ways of thinking, learning what it means to gather and wield true power. And she prepares for one last wager: risking all on a single throw for a better future.
In the last decade, Hild has become a beloved classic of epic storytelling. Menewood exceeds it in every way."
I mean, we've all been "patiently" waiting for this book yes?
Unruly by David Mitchell
Published by: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
Publication Date: October 3rd, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 448 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"A rollicking history of England's kings and queens from Arthur to Elizabeth I, a tale of power, glory, and excessive beheadings by award-winning British actor and comedian David Mitchell.
Think you know the kings and queens of England? Think again.
In Unruly, David Mitchell explores how early England's monarchs, while acting as feared rulers firmly guiding their subjects' destinies, were in reality a bunch of lucky bastards who were mostly as silly and weird in real life as they appear today in their portraits.
Taking us back to King Arthur (spoiler: he didn't exist), Mitchell tells the founding story of post-Roman England up to the reign of Elizabeth I (spoiler: she dies). It's a tale of narcissists, inadequate self-control, middle-management insurrection, uncivil wars, and a few Cnuts, as the English evolved from having their crops stolen by the thug with the largest armed gang to bowing and paying taxes to a divinely anointed king.
How this happened, who it happened to, and why the hell it matters are all questions that Mitchell answers with brilliance, wit, and the full erudition of a man who once studied history - and won't let it off the hook for the mess it's made.
A funny book that takes history seriously, Unruly is for anyone who has ever wondered how the British monarchy came to be - and who is to blame."
This book is also for everyone who loves and adores David Mitchell. Yes, that means me.
A Winter in New York by Josie Silver
Published by: Dell
Publication Date: October 3rd, 2023
Format: Paperback, 384 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"A young chef stumbles on a secret family recipe that might lead her to the love - and life - she's been looking for in this stunning novel from the New York Times bestselling author of One Day in December.
When Iris decides to move to New York to restart her life, she realizes she underestimated how big the Big Apple really is - all the nostalgic movies set in New York she'd watched with her mom while eating their special secret-recipe gelato didn't quite do it justice.
But Bobby, Iris's best friend, isn't about to let her hide away. He drags her to a famous autumn street fair in Little Italy, and as they walk through the food stalls, a little family-run gelateria catches her eye - could it be the same shop that's in an old photo of her mother's?
Curious, Iris returns the next day and meets the handsome Gio, who tells her that the shop is in danger of closing. His uncle, sole keeper of their family's gelato recipe, is recovering from a stroke and can no longer remember it, so they can't make more. When Iris samples the last remaining batch, she realizes that their gelato and her gelato are one and the same. But how can she tell them she knows their secret recipe when she's not sure why Gio's uncle gave it to her mother in the first place?
Iris offers her services as a chef to help them re-create the flavor and finds herself falling for Gio and his family. But when Gio's uncle finally wakes up, all of the secrets Iris has been keeping threaten to ruin the new life - and new love - she's been building all winter long."
A kind of While You Were Sleeping tale.
Murder on the Christmas Express by Alexandra Benedict
Published by: Poisoned Pen Press
Publication Date: October 3rd, 2023
Format: Paperback, 272 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"All aboard, but beware! Passengers who sleep on this train may never wake up.
In the early hours of Christmas Eve, the sleeper train from London to the Highlands derails, along with the festive plans of its travelers. With the train buried in snow in the middle of nowhere, the passengers have only each other, and not all of them will reach their holiday celebrations.
As a killer tries to pick passengers off one by one, former Met Detective Roz Parker can't resist one last investigation, but murder in a locked room is a formidable puzzle for even the most seasoned investigator. As accusations begin to fly, the group of travelers fractures and unexpected alliances form. Can Roz find the culprit before anyone else is lost?"
This, right here, this is the book I've picked as my first read for this holiday season.
Winter Chills Vol. 2 by Layne Adamsson, A.Q. Hart, S.J. Lomas, and Dan MacDonald
Published by: 8n Publishing
Publication Date: October 3rd, 2023
Format: Paperback, 158 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"This wintry collection of supernatural stories will send a tingle down your spine.
Four short stories include a scavenger hunt leading to either madness or clarity, tapping into the other side or is it the other way around, a ghost hunt that may give a skeptic something to believe in, and quieting personal demons in the wilds of Alaska.
Grab a blanket, your favorite hot drink, and settle in for some Winter Chills.
Stories included:
Tipping Points by Layne Adamsson
She Gives Me Light by A. Q. Hart
All That Glitters by S.J. Lomas
Dead Air by Dan MacDonald"
Because it's getting cold out and everyone needs to catch a chill this winter!
Slade House by David Mitchell
Peace Talks by Jim Butcher
The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal
Mayhem by Estelle Laure
Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell
